I am going to present Matthew next because it most closely follows the text and outline from Mark. The data is shown on the following page. Note that there are two additional actors in this account. In this account Matthew has chosen to insert the story about Judas into the midst of the description of Jesus meeting with Pilate. Also, there is an interjection in verse 27:19 to relay a brief bit of information from Pilate’s wife. I approached this text unsure as to whether to include those insertions into the analysis or not. As I pondered that question I slowly came to realize that these stories have been packaged in a specific format by the author to convey the specific impression that each author felt called to convey. Thus, the text inserted by the author is part of the tool that author is using to help us understand and those insertions need to be included.

With Matthew I again assume we start in tranquility at 0,0. I used the name of Pilate as the delineating point to designate where to begin and I use Pilate’s command to crucify Jesus as the ending marker.

Matthew introduces Pilate and then immediately shifts focus to Judas. The interplay between the religious leaders—who I designate simply as the crowd—and Judas wanders a bit until in verse 4A we see that Judas has been transformed. Note that while the crowd in Mark’s gospel only made weak efforts at conflict, here they have no fear of Judas and begin conflict immediately.

The persistency of their conflict while Judas is already in a state of high dissonance leads Judas into chaos. In verse 5 the state portrayed by Matthew is 2,2. Judas then withdraws. Withdrawal is the preferred conflict resolution style when we are in chaos. The model and the text align well.

I was fascinated to see that the crowd next brings us back to tranquility. I felt that this was one of the points that validated my assumption to always begin each encounter at 0,0.

Verses eight, nine and ten are significant in that they have no meaning to the actors involved in the drama. That text was placed there by the author to speak to us, the readers. Note that Matthew now leads us to the transforming state and attempts to educate us. The information that Matthew conveys is that the traditional prophecies have been transformed.

Matthew then returns to the story about Jesus and Pilate and by verse 11B Pilate and Jesus are in an aligning environment. Pilate has not yet realized this and would not have understood if Jesus had simply said that he was there to be crucified because that was the destination this journey had been predicted to reach. Also, this cannot be the end point because the crowd has not yet been drawn into this agreement.

Book	Ch	Vs	Actor	Vert	Horz	Dissonance	Love
Matthew	27	*	Start	0	0	Assumed start place
Matthew	27	1	Crowd	1	1	Conspire	Conspire
Matthew	27	2	Crowd	1	2		Captive
Matthew	27	3	Judas	2	1	Repent	Repent
Matthew	27	4A	Judas	3	0	Repent	Repent
Matthew	27	*	Judas	3	0	Judas is transformed
Matthew	27	4B	Crowd	2	1	Refuse	Refuse
Matthew	27	5	Judas	2	2		Challenge
Matthew	27	*	Judas	2	2	Judas in chaos
Matthew	27	6	Crowd	1	1	Obligation	Obligation
Matthew	27	7	Crowd	0	0	Obligation	Obligation
Matthew	27	*	Crowd	0	0	Back to start
Matthew	27	8	Narrator	1	0	Explanation
Matthew	27	9	Narrator	2	0	Explanation
Matthew	27	10	Narrator	3	0	Explanation
Matthew	27	*	Narrator	3	0	Scripture transformed
Matthew	27	11A	Pilate	3	-1		Inquire
Matthew	27	11B	Jesus	4	-2	"You say so"	"You say so"
Matthew	27	*	Pilate	4	-2	So close to alignment
Matthew	27	12A	Crowd	5	-1	Accused	Accused
Matthew	27	12B	Jesus	6	-1	No response
Matthew	27	13	Pilate	7	0	Confused	Confused
Matthew	27	14	Jesus	8	0	No response
Matthew	27	15	Narrator	7	-1	Obligation	Obligation
Matthew	27	16	Narrator	8	-1	Explanation
Matthew	27	17	Pilate	8	-2		Inquire
Matthew	27	18	Narrator	7	-1	Jealousy	Jealousy
Matthew	27	19	Wife	8	0	Self-Focused	Self-Focused
Matthew	27	*	Wife	8	0	Wife transformed
Matthew	27	20	Crowd	7	1	Refuse	Refuse
Matthew	27	21A	Pilate	7	0		Inquire
Matthew	27	21B	Crowd	6	1	Refuse	Refuse
Matthew	27	22A	Pilate	6	0		Inquire
Matthew	27	22B	Crowd	5	1	Refuse	Refuse
Matthew	27	23A	Pilate	4	0	Ignorance	Ignorance
Matthew	27	23B	Crowd	3	1	Refuse	Refuse
Matthew	27	24A	Narrator	4	0	Redeem	Redeem Pilate
Matthew	27	24B	Pilate	3	-1	Concede	Concede
Matthew	27	25	Crowd	2	0	Require	Require
Matthew	27	26A	Pilate	3	-1	Redeem	Redeem
Matthew	27	26B		4	-2	Explanation	Acquiesce
Matthew	27	*	End	4	-2	Ends with alignment

We next wander through a complex interaction with Pilate, the crowd, Jesus and the narrator. Then in verse 19 we find that the Pilate’s wife has been transformed. It is interesting to note that Matthew’s gospel is the only one that does not tell us that Pilate was transformed. Instead, Matthew tells us that Judas was transformed, the prophetic scriptures were transformed and then Pilate’s wife is transformed.

In my interpretation, Jesus and the narrator continue to increase the dissonance and emphasize love. The crowd pushes for conflict and could easily have wandered into chaos because of the high level of dissonance. Pilate, as I see his role at this point in the encounter is striving to educate Jesus regarding the severity of the situation. Perhaps it his role as a teacher that blocks Pilate from being transformed. But the transforming environment that has been created is having an effect and Matthew tries to help us understand the impact that is resulting from this dissemination of news.

The next series of interactions focus on Pilate and the crowd. As an expert in smoothing Pilate’s goal seems to be to bring the ambiance back to tranquility. The crowd is agitated and it takes time for Pilate to calm them. Their continued push on conflict could have easily led to chaos. In my analysis, Pilate succeeds at decreasing the dissonance while keeping antagonism in check. Pilate, however, never does get them back into tranquility. But by verse 25 they are close.

As I looked at this illustration and similar patterns in the other gospels it becomes clear to me that Pilate was very good at what he did. Could you stand in front of an angry mob, see and hear all of this dissonance and remain so focused that you could calm them so that an agreement could be reached? Can you see this pattern displayed in the zigzag course outlined in verses 19 through 25. Notice that the antagonism is always kept in check.

Then in verse 26 we reach alignment. The conflict was dampened. The dissonance was squelched. And then they reached alignment and agreed on the decision.